Plympton's Comic of the Week
Plympton's new series of comics extracted from the comic book, "Sleazy
Cartoons of Bill Plympton," is for ADULTS ONLY...
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This Week's Animation Trivia Quiz
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz...
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A Closer Look: Pokemania, Who's Next?
Three new Scandinavian markets surrendered their airwaves to Pokemania.
Worldwide sensation Pokemon was recently sold to TV4 in Sweden, TV2 in
Denmark and TV2 in Norway. The show will hit the new territories in January
and February 2000. The international distributor, Lacey Entertainment, also
announced the sale of the Pikachu-vehicle to ATV in Turkey and Noga
Communications' Children's Channel in Israel.
The Pokemon phenomenon began in America in 1998 with the release of the
In Anime, Flash, Anime, Flash | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America
Cartoon Noir In LA
NEW! * Friday, February 25, 2000 - Thursday, March 2, 2000. Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.
CARTOON NOIR comes to LA. This multi-technique film is a feature-length
compilation of animated shorts from American and European artists. Featured
in CARTOON NOIR are: APE, Julie Zammarchi's darkly comic critique of
monogamy, meat eating and the daily pattern of human brutality; ALTAIR,
Lewis Klahr's collagist elegy on New York nightlife; CLUB OF THE DISCARDED,
TAIS Presents Disney Animator Peter Emslie
* Wednesday, January 26, 2000. Toronto, Canada.
TAIS, the Toronto Animated Image Society, will present "Creating Appealing
Cartoon Characters" with Peter Emslie. In the evening's presentation, the
long-time Disney animator will explain his personal theory on what makes
for good cartoon character design, by referring to videotape and sketching
on the spot to illustrate various points. Since 1979, Emslie has spent much
of his time drawing for the Walt Disney Company. On staff for 10 years and
The $100M Mouse Slips To 2nd At U.S. B.O.
Sony's US$100 million plus grossing film STUART LITTLE couldn't hold off
the live-action comedy NEXT FRIDAY at the U.S. box office thus slipping to
second place. The mega-mouse flick, with primary visual effects by Sony
Pictures Imageworks, additional animation by CFX and Rhythm & Hues, and
miniatures by Thunderstone, grossed US$9.7 million bringing its grand total
to $106.8 million. THE GREEN MILE, with primary visual effects by ILM,
Rhythm & Hues, POP and Matte World Digital, fell to 5th place grossing $7.6
NATPE News
NATPE is one of the leading television markets and conferences in the
world. The event in New Orleans offers animation and special effects
companies a rare opportunity to showcase their work to a global audience.
NATPE 2000 will offer a vast array of exhibitors gathered in pavilions such
as Animation/Licensing sponsored by KidScreen; Cable sponsored by ATVC
(Asociacion Argentia de Television por Cable); HDTV/Visual Effects
sponsored by SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers);
Disney's Imagine Finds New Home At Fox
Imagine Television, the makers of THE PJS, is leaving Disney for its new
home at Fox. The three-year collaboration between the small screen arm of
production house Imagine Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Television will
take effect at the end of April 2000. Worth up to $30 million, the deal
also includes a two-year option extension. Imagine TV had been based at
Walt Disney Television since it was formed in 1997 by Imagine Entertainment
Disney Channel With A Latin Touch
On Friday, January 14, 2000, Walt Disney International-Latin America
announced the launch of the Disney Channel Latin America and an exclusive
satellite television distribution agreement with Galaxy Latin America, LLC
for DIRECTV service in Spanish-speaking Latin America. "Launching the
Disney Channel in Latin America in 2000 is an exciting initiative for the
Walt Disney Company," said Diego Lerner, president and managing director,
WDI-Latin America. "As we have in other parts of the world, we will now
V12 Births Blue Cross/Blue Shield Spot
V12's director David Hwang created a "'50s sitcom spoof" commercial for
Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Produced for the Detroit ad agency DP + Company,
the 30-second spot features blue-tinted footage of a classic LEAVE IT TO
BEAVER-like family. As the family reads about the Selectcare program, the
commercial washes over in bright Technicolor hues. The voice-over
concludes, "Sometimes the answer can come right out of the blue." Jennifer
Lucero produced for V12.
Red Rover Raps Molson Spot
Toronto-based RED ROVER's directors Andy and Linzi Knight created the
"subliminal" message for the Molson Export "Subliminal" spot. The 30-second
spot slyly transforms the bubbles in a glass of beer into the image of
three go-go girls dancing to "And the Beat Goes On." The spot was produced
for McClaren McCann of Toronto. Linzi Knight said, "This is the kind of
commercial people look forward to seeing because they're always looking to
see if they notice anything else going. That kind of viewer attention is
Class-Key Chew-Po Closes On 2 Spots
CLASS-KEY CHEW-PO, the commercial division of Klasky Csupo, produced two
animated spots for Hasbro's "Together TV" and Tiger Electronics' "Find
Furby" game. Both spots were directed by Steven Dovas and were produced for
New York-based ad agency Posnick & Koklaer. The "Together TV" spot features
live-action heads placed atop animated bodies. The spot highlights parents
spending time with their children. The "Find Furby" spot brings animated
versions of the Furby dolls to life as they bounce around the sky from
Curious Pictures & Tomato Create RCA Spot
London-based collective, CURIOUS PICTURES and TOMATO, created the blend of
type graphics and stock footage for an RCA spot entitled "Static." Graphics
weave together images of static, distortion and color bars, until finally a
crisp picture of the two RCA Dalmatian mascots appear to illustrate the
growth of television from its early days to HDTV. The spot ends with the
tag "RCA. Changing entertainment. Again." Graham Wood directed for Curious
Pictures/Tomato and Quiche Campbell produced.
Pajama Sam 3 Arrives In April
Hitting the U.S. market April 2000, Humongous Entertainment will bring
families their new CD-ROM, PAJAMA SAM 3: YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT FROM YOUR
HEAD TO YOUR FEET. Pajama Sam is back to uncover the mysterious
disappearance of four Peace Delegates who have not arrived at the Food
Pyramid for a Peace Conference. The suggested retail price will be $24.99.
Fox Kids Gets Psycho
Fox Kids has started developing a series based on the comic book/Internet
toon JOE PSYCHO & MOOFROG CARTOONSHOW. Set in the fictional town of Spleen,
Oregon, JOE PSYCHO revolves around humorous mishaps of the local TV station
where crazy Joe and mind-mannered MooFrog work.
Renegade Creates Trix Yogurt Spot
RENEGADE ANIMATION created their third in a series of 30-second Trix Yogurt
spots for New York-based ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi. The spot starts out
with a group of sad kids in a black & white colored world until they taste
Trix Yogurt. They use their spoons as magic wands to paint the world in
bright colors. The cel animated spot was directed by Darrell Van Citters
and produced by Jeff Poehlmann of Johnson Burnett Productions.
yU + Co Designs Graphics for AmEx Spot
yU + CO, in collaboration with Digital Domain, provided the motion graphics
design for seven new American Express "Blue" commercials. The titles appear
at the close of the spots as a grouping of light and dark squares, as in a
highly pixilated image, before coming into focus as letters. The titles
where designed to comment on the physical flexibility and the holographic
blue box center of the new card. Garson Yu was designer and director for yU
Radium Raps Mervyn's Spot
RADIUM's Inferno artist Alaina Goetz created effects for two Mervyn's
California commercials. In "Yo-yo," Goetz takes live-action footage of a
dancer and puts them into a yo-yo that spins and jerks off the screen. In
"Kung-fu," Goetz creates the transitions between scenes by creating
rice-paper doors that slide in front of the camera. Radium's Andrea Mansour
produced the project for Minneapolis ad agency Martin/Williams.
Vigilante 8: Second Offense Rides Onto Dreamcast
On December 27, 1999, Activision, Inc. shipped VIGILANTE 8: SECOND OFFENSE
for the Sega Dreamcast. In this new adventure, players must stop the Coyote
terrorist gang that has traveled back through time in an attempt to change
the course of events that will allow evil to dominate the world. Developed
by Luxoflux Corp., the game features multiple modes of play -- single
player quest, arcade and survival mode, two-player versus, cooperative and
Quake III Arena Shakes On Mac
On January 3, 2000, Activision, Inc. and id Software released QUAKE III
ARENA for Macintosh. The on-line multiplayer game features 26 deathmatch
and four capture-the-flag levels. The title is available at a suggested
retail price of $49.99. id Software offers such titles as Wolfenstein 3D,
DOOM, DOOM II, QUAKE and QUAKE II.
South Park Rally Skids Into Stores
On January 5, 2000, Acclaim Entertainment started shipping their SOUTH PARK
RALLY for PlayStation with Nintendo 64, PC and Sega Dreamcast to follow
shortly. Developed by Tantalus Interactive, the kart-style racing adventure
features mission-based game modes and 27 characters from the Comedy Central
series. All versions of South Park Rally will include multiplayer modes
that feature races and cooperative game modes, including the multiplayer
Hey Monie To Debut On Oxygen
Tom Snyder Productions, the creators of DR. KATZ: PROFESSIONAL THERAPIST,
have been assigned to create a new animated comedy series for Oxygen,
Geraldine Laybourne's new network to launch February 2, 2000 to accompany
the Web site of the same name. The comedy series titled HEY MONIE is based
on the life and longings of a single African-American professional woman in
big city America. This is the first network animated series based on an
African-American woman and her friends. The show is scheduled to air on
Special NATPE Issue of the Flash Is Coming!
Animation World Network will be publishing a special NATPE
edition of our weekly E-mail newsletter, Animation Flash,
on January 18, 2000. To insure all your NATPE-related news
is printed in the Flash please submit press releases to
rick@awn.com by January 14, 2000. Please put "NATPE News"
in the subject area of your e-mail.
One Week Left for Imagina 2000 Early Birds
Send your registration form before January 20, 2000 and
save 50% on your entry fee. The Imagina computer conference
and festival is the rendez-vous for all digital
audio-visual professionals. For its 19th edition, in
keeping with tradition, the event will start in Monaco,
January 31-February 2, 2000, but will then continue in
Paris, February 2-4, 2000 with the exhibition of new
industrial developments and technologies. The events in
Brussels Festival Launches Anima 2000
The 19th Brussels Cartoon and Animated Film Festival takes
place February 28-March 11, 2000. This year, in addition to
its regular program, the festival presents Anima 2000, a
4-day event with various conferences, screenings and panel
discussions. The program includes: "Be Realistic, Demand
The Impossible: Creatives' Dreams," on interactive
animation; "Lucas Arts," on how video game developers see
the role of animators; "Animated Feature Film Day," on
